Mid-Waveney Valley, 18 September 2016

An afternoon walk along part of the Bigod Way which follows a loop of the Waveney around Outney Common near Bungay.
A couple of nice insects seen including yet another Willow Emerald, this time a female near Bath Hills. Then a new one for me in the form of a beautifully-coloured Hawthorn Shieldbug between Bungay and Earsham.
Birdwise it was fairly quiet but we had Kingfisher at Earsham GPs, 3 Green Woodpeckers and a Little Egret sat in the top of a bush near Earsham. There were plenty of Red Admirals on the wing too adding to the autumnal feel. 

Willow Emerald, female

  Hawthorn Shieldbug

Suffolk coast bits n bobs, 11 September 2016

We did a nice long 14km walk around the Dunwich area today as the weather has cooled enough to make walking a pleasure again!

En-route 4 Spoonbills on Westwood Marshes were very nice plus 2 Little Egrets and Green Woodpecker but the woods were very quiet with just a single Chiffchaff still singing away. At Dunwich Beach Pools as we walked past a Greenshank flew past calling but that was about it.

After our walk we moved on to the Blyth Estuary were one of the Ospreys was showing nicely plus 3 Common Buzzards but the waders were too distant for me with just bins.

We finished up a Minsmere cafe for coffee and cake clocking a nice male Redstart and a singing Cetti's Warbler along the North Wall to finish the day.

   Westwood Marshes featuring 4 Spoonbills!

A couple of new Hoverflies, Buxton Heath, 2 September 2016

I called in at Buxton Heath while passing the other day. This was an old stomping ground of mine from when I lived in Reepham and it's changed quite a bit with the management work going on.
I was hoping for Marsh Gentian but having not looked them up beforehand it seems I was probably a couple of months late - d'oh!
The only things of any note ina very brief visit were a fly-over calling Crossbill, Green Woodpecker and a couple of new hoverflies for me, Eristalis horticola and Eristalis arbustorum plus the tiny black Paragus haemorrhous. I'm very much a beginner with hoverflies and finding them tough, even with a good field guide!

Eristalis horticola

 Eristalis arbustorum

Autumn Ladies Tresses in Norfolk, 2 September 2016

Autumn Ladies Tresses are the latest of our UK flowering orchids and in Norfolk we have just one site for them (although there is another site just over the border into Lincolnshire). Sadly due to mismanagement in recent years the Norfolk site that used to hold dozens of these delightful plants now holds a very small handful. In a prolonged search (and with some directions) I only managed to locate 2. At least this is an improvement on the complete blank I had last year! The owners of the site have been advised how best to manage the small area where they occur so we can only keep our fingers crossed that the management improves. It would be very sad to lose them.